Mets farm system ranked fourth-best

In his yearly rankings, released Wednesday, Keith Law of ESPN said the Mets’ farm system was the fourth-best in baseball.

The Cubs took the number one spot, followed by the Twins and Astros.

The rest of the N.L. East stacked up like this:

Braves – 6
Nationals – 9
Marlins – 24
Phillies – 25

Law’s ranking (ESPN Insider subscription required and highly recommended) included the following blurb about the Mets’ system:

"They’re deep in arms and bats, especially guys who might play in the middle of the diamond or pitch in the top three spots of a major league rotation. They’ve kept all their prospects while patiently building, but this is probably the year to swap some of their starting pitching prospect depth for a bat."

Keith Law’s ranking of the Mets’ system jives with MLB.com’s recent analysis, which saw a Mets prospect included on Top 10 lists for right-handed pitcher, left-handed pitcher, catcher, first base, and second base.

The top players in New York’s system include Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, Rafael Montero, Dilson Herrera, Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto, Kevin Plawecki, Amed Rosario, Marcos Molina, and Dominic Smith.

Thoughts:

The Mets’ highly-ranked farm system is a testament to Sandy Alderson’s drafting and trades as well as some very good leftover pieces from the Omar Minaya regime. It’s also as high as it is because the Mets have so far refused to deal any of their top prospects in order to fill holes on the big league roster.

As Law notes above, 2015 is probably when the Mets should be willing to deal one of their high-end starting pitching prospects in order to acquire an impact bat.

Law’s ranking of the Mets’ system and the opinion of the system from most scouts makes the idea that Noah Syndergaard is the hard-line ask in every potential trade a preposterous one.

Perhaps the first name other general managers bring up when dealing with the Mets is Syndergaard. However, when a farm system is as stacked and well-balanced as the Mets’, it shouldn’t be very difficult to find a trading partner.

As it stands, the Mets will head into 2015 with their farm system intact, but without a first round pick in the upcoming draft (they surrendered it in order to sign Michael Cuddyer).

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